oysters – The National Wildlife Federation Bloghttp://blog.nwf.org
The National Wildlife Federation's blogThu, 24 May 2018 16:06:07 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.5139259312Gulf Oysters: A National Treasure, Providing Natural Defenseshttp://blog.nwf.org/2017/08/gulf-oysters-a-national-treasure-providing-natural-defenses/
http://blog.nwf.org/2017/08/gulf-oysters-a-national-treasure-providing-natural-defenses/#respondFri, 04 Aug 2017 12:00:46 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/?p=129904When people on the Gulf coast think of an oyster, what immediately comes to mind are the big, juicy blobs on the half-shell. But oysters are not just a delicious treat—they are also incredibly important for the health of the Gulf and its economy.

Unfortunately, it is estimated that oyster reefs have declined by as much as 90 percent globally for a multitude of reasons, including overharvesting, dredging, and changes in the quality, quantity and timing of fresh water flowing into coastal estuaries where oysters live. Today, the Gulf of Mexico is one of the few places in the world where there are enough wild oyster reefs to support a significant harvest. But even in the Gulf, oyster reef losses have been significant— more than 80 percent in parts of Mississippi and Alabama.

Oysters improve water quality

An adult oyster can filter as much as 50 gallons of water per day, both improving water quality and clarity. Two of the most common pollutants in U.S. waters today are nitrogen and phosphorus—largely the result of fertilizer runoff and wastewater. These nutrients cause phytoplankton to bloom rapidly and then die—using up oxygen in the water, and creating problems for many species of wildlife. Oyster reefs filter these problematic nutrients out of the water at high rates.

In places like Galveston Bay, it is estimated that a 130-acre oyster reef, containing 10 oysters per square meter, could filter about 260 million gallons of water per day—that’s more than all of the city of Houston’s 39 wastewater treatment plants put together in 2009!

In the Gulf, we support creating new oyster reefs in places like McKay Bay in the Tampa area, where stormwater and wastewater currently degrade water quality.

Oysters provide habitat for fish and wildlife

Oystercatchers are just one species that rely on oyster reefs– but this habitat has declined across the Gulf. Photo donated by National Wildlife Photo Contest entrant Kathy Reeves.

Hundreds of species of wildlife use oyster reefs, including fish, shellfish, and birds —which means these habitats rival salt marshes and seagrass beds in terms of their wildlife density and diversity. In fact, oyster reefs are so important, that building new reefs can actually increase the number of fish and crustaceans in an area. In one example, just 3.5 miles of newly-built oyster reefs resulted in nearly 7,000 pounds of additional fish and shellfish caught annually.

In places like Louisiana’s Biloxi Marsh, oyster restoration efforts are being designed that will protect nearby marshes from erosion—critical in an area with some of the high rates of wetlands loss in the world.

In Mobile Bay, where more than 80 percent the bay’s oysters have been lost, the 100:1000: Restore Coastal Alabama partnership is rebuilding 100 miles of oyster reefs along the coast, which will in turn protect more than 1,000 acres of coastal marsh and seagrass.

Help us make sure that fines from the BP spill are dedicated to projects such as restoring oyster reefs and others that will aid in Gulf recovery.

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2017/08/gulf-oysters-a-national-treasure-providing-natural-defenses/feed/0129904Is Maryland Shucking Its Oyster Sanctuaries?http://blog.nwf.org/2016/08/is-maryland-shucking-its-oyster-sanctuaries/
http://blog.nwf.org/2016/08/is-maryland-shucking-its-oyster-sanctuaries/#commentsTue, 09 Aug 2016 15:00:47 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/?p=121664Just a few hundred years ago, it would have been impossible to imagine the Chesapeake Bay without oysters. The expansive, vertical reefs European settlers encountered were so large they posed a navigation hazard to passing boats. Today, the eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) has been reduced to less than one percent of its historic population in the Chesapeake Bay.

Oysters on the Brink

The once bountiful oysters of the Chesapeake Bay have been critically depleted due to a number of factors:

Eastern oyster. Photo from NOAA

Over-harvesting – By the late 1800’s nearly 20 million oysters were harvested from the Bay each year, supporting a booming seafood industry, supplying almost half the world’s supply of oysters, and even prompting Oyster Wars.

Pollution and sedimentation – Polluted runoff from agricultural, urban, and suburban development, deforestation, and wetland destruction threaten the health of the Bay and its inhabitants, including oysters. Nutrient pollution from over-fertilization and animal waste from agricultural operations cause algae blooms and can lead to “dead-zones” (low oxygen areas) in the Bay. Sediment can cover reefs, suffocating oysters and other shellfish.

Climate change – Carbon pollution, created by burning fossil fuels like coal, causes acidification of our waterways. Scientists are concerned that higher acidity levels may already be making it harder for oysters and other shellfish to produce the calcium carbonate needed to form their shells.

Disease – Oysters are threatened by two parasitic diseases, Dermo and MSX. Stress caused by impaired water quality can make oysters more susceptible to diseases.

Sanctuary for Oysters

At the end of July 2016, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) released a new report assessing the first five years of the expanded oyster sanctuary program. The program, initiated by the 2004 Chesapeake Bay Oyster Management Plan created these sanctuaries as areas permanently closed to harvest to help oyster populations begin to recover. In 2010, Maryland expanded the scale of its oyster sanctuaries to include 51 sites, 24% of the productive oyster bottom remaining in Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay. The balance of the productive oyster bottom (76%) remained open to the public shellfish fishery.

DNR’s report demonstrates that oysters appear to be thriving in the sanctuaries, while continuing to struggle in other locations in the Bay. Surprisingly, the report also suggests there is justification to consider adjustments to the boundaries and potentially opening once off-limits areas to harvest. However, Maryland’s oysters need more time to fully recover.

Oysters Needed for Healthy Bay

Oysters are essential, natural filters for the Bay. A single oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day removing nutrients and sediment suspended in the water column. At historic population levels, oysters could filter a volume of water equal to that of the entire Bay (about 19 trillion gallons) in a week. Today, it would take the remaining Bay oysters more than a year.

A critical component of the Chesapeake Bay food web, oysters are an important food source for shorebirds like the American oystercatcher, crabs, anemones, sea nettles, and some fish. Oyster reefs also provide critical habitat and safe haven for many species of fish and other aquatic life.

Oystercatchers are just one species that rely on oysters Photo by Kathy Reeves, National Wildlife Photo Contest

Climate change is contributing to more frequent and severe storm events and contributing to sea level rise. Oyster reefs provide natural protection against coastal storms by attenuating or dissipating waves and by retaining sediment.

To help restore oyster populations, the National Wildlife Federation advocates for clean water policies at the state and federal level to protect the Chesapeake Bay and helped launch the Choose Clean Water Coalition in 2009. The National Wildlife Federation is working to ensure a more resilient Chesapeake Bay utilizing natural and nature-based solutions. Together with sustainable land use practices and efforts to reduce polluted runoff, we will continue to help oyster populations to ensure a clean Chesapeake Bay.

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2016/08/is-maryland-shucking-its-oyster-sanctuaries/feed/2121664The Toll on Gulf Oystershttp://blog.nwf.org/2013/12/the-toll-on-gulfs-oysters/
http://blog.nwf.org/2013/12/the-toll-on-gulfs-oysters/#respondSat, 21 Dec 2013 13:45:30 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/?p=89200It is small and slimy, and goes down easy with a little lemon.

Fresh Gulf Oyster at Wetzel’s Oyster House in New Orleans. Photo courtesy of donireewalker via FlickR.

But the oyster isn’t just a treat for seafood lovers; these humble bivalves play an essential role in the ecology of the Gulf. An adult oyster can filter as much as 50 gallons of water per day, and oyster reefs provide important foraging and refuge habitat for hundreds of different species, including many economically important species of fish, such as redfish.

Oysters live in estuaries—places formed where freshwater from our rivers and streams meet the saltier waters of the Gulf. And while oysters are considered seafood, they actually require this balance of fresh and salt water to survive.

Approximately 85% of oyster reefs have been lost across the globe. And while we don’t have exact estimates, it is clear that the Gulf is no exception to the global trend. For example, in Mobile Bay, maybe upwards of 80% of oyster reefs have been lost.

Gulf Oyster Numbers on the Decline

Despite this decades-long decline, the Gulf Coast still produces two-thirds of the nation’s oysters. But in the years since the Gulf oil disaster, state figures show that Louisiana’s oyster catch is down by almost a third. Some fishermen have argued that this decline is an ongoing impact of the oil disaster.

“It’s 98 percent off this year. That’s the lowest I’ve ever seen it,” said George Barisich, president of the United Commercial Fisherman’s Association. “It’s like a Teflon coating on my reef. My reefs are 60 years old and I have no spat catch at all.”

An ongoing environmental study—conducted as part of the Natural Resources Damage Assessment resulting from the Gulf oil disaster—indicates that scientists may soon be able to confirm this oysterman’s hunch:

Oyster eggs, sperm, and larvae were also exposed to oil and dispersants through direct contact with water. PAHs are toxic to oyster gametes, embryos, larvae, juveniles and adults and result in lethal and sub-lethal effects (e.g., impaired reproductive success). Intertidal adult oysters were also exposed to oil droplets and oil on suspended sediment and detritus.

Fall 2010 sample results suggest oyster larvae were rare or absent in many of the samples collected across the northern Gulf of Mexico. Oyster spat recruitment was also extremely low or zero in 2010 over large areas of subtidal oyster habitat along the northern Gulf coast. There was also low spat recruitment through the spring and fall of 2011 and the fall of 2012. Trustees are continuing to evaluate effects of 2010 oiling and associated response activities on Gulf oyster populations.

The response efforts are also part of the picture, at least in Louisiana. During the height of the spill, the state released large amounts of freshwater from the Mississippi River into its delta in attempt to keep oil away from the Louisiana’s shoreline. The volume and duration of the freshwater from these response actions affected oysters over a broad area.

Restoration projects recently announced by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation include oyster reef restoration in Texas, Alabama, and Florida. More projects like these will be necessary to reverse the downward trend for oysters across the Gulf of Mexico and to restore the health and productivity of the entire Gulf ecosystem.

Help oysters and other Gulf wildlife

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2013/12/the-toll-on-gulfs-oysters/feed/089200Weekly News Roundup – November 4, 2011http://blog.nwf.org/2011/11/weekly-news-roundup-november-4-2011/
http://blog.nwf.org/2011/11/weekly-news-roundup-november-4-2011/#respondFri, 04 Nov 2011 19:34:42 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/wildlifepromise/?p=35126I was out last Friday hiking with my coworkers, so this week we have a double edition of the National Wildlife Federation news roundup:

November 3 – Rep. Ron Kind (WI) and Sen. Mark Udall (CO) introduced House and Senate versions of the Healthy Kids Outdoors Act today to support state, local and federal strategies to connect youth and families with the natural world, with an eye toward improving children’s health and supporting future economic growth and conservation efforts.

“The nature of childhood has changed, and there isn’t much nature in it,” said Larry Schweiger, National Wildlife Federation’s president and CEO. “National Wildlife Federation commends Congressman Ron Kind and Senator Mark Udall for introducing legislation that will strengthen the economy by getting Americans moving through recreation and active outdoor play.”

November 3 – On the eve of a potential vote in the U.S. House of Representatives, the National Wildlife Federation is opposing provisions in a federal bill that would be a devastating setback in the effort to stop aquatic invasive species from entering the Great Lakes and other U.S. waters through the ballast discharge of foreign ships.

“This bill is bad for the Great Lakes,” said Andy Buchsbaum, regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes office. “It leaves the door open for invasive species to enter the lakes through the discharge of ships’ ballast water.

November 3 – If all the oyster reefs are gone, where are all of those oysters-on-the-half-shell coming from?

An estimated 95 percent of oysters served for slurping come from oyster farms. Wild oysters have been fished out, developed out and smothered by river sediment. The nearly 5 million barrels of oil BP let loose in the Gulf of Mexico didn’t help either. But BP, or more accurately, BP’s money can help restore wild oyster reefs (and a whole lot more). The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have introduced separate bills that would direct at least 80 percent of the Clean Water Act penalties levied on BP to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas to invest in the long term health of the environment and local economies.

Of course, “investing in local economies” covers a lot of ground, not necessarily in, on or adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico.

November 3 – In late September, the Secretary of Commerce announced $102 million in grants for three projects to restore deteriorated wetlands and barrier island habitats in Louisiana. The restoration efforts involve pumping sediment to barrier island shores, rebuilding marshes and reinforcing shorelines in areas where precious land is eroding at a rapid pace.

While it’s a step in the right direction and welcome news to many, coastal advocates say it’s a temporary solution to a long-term problem. Such restoration projects can only be sustained by the permanent and natural land-replenishing impacts of freshwater diversions from the Mississippi River.

November 2 -The National Wildlife Federation is sponsoring the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) Symposium with the National Aquarium Conservation Center, Mote Marine Laboratory and Johns Hopkins University November 2-4 at the National Aquarium.

NRDA for the Gulf: Improving Our Ability to Quantify Chronic Damages will allow symposium participants to discuss long-term effects and solutions resulting from the Gulf oil disaster. Since the disaster, scientists/ researchers have been studying the impacts on natural resources in the Gulf and working together to find immediate and long-term solutions.

November 1 – The Senate voted to slash more than $700 million dollars from conservation programs that help farmers, ranchers and foresters, as well as soil, water and wildlife. These steep cuts in the 2012 Agriculture Appropriations bill target crucial and effective programs that are already oversubscribed with a long waiting list of farmers wanting to implement conservation practices.

“You reap what you sow, and the agriculture funding bill will be a bitter harvest for farmers, ranchers and wildlife,” said Aviva Glaser, agriculture policy coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation.

October 30 – The selection of the 2012 Federal Duck Stamp art contest winner – whose work will appear on stamps purchased by every duck hunter in America – puts a spotlight on the nation’s troubled wetland ecosystems. The National Wildlife Federation, Izaak Walton League, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, and Trout Unlimited support restoring Clean Water Act protections for wetlands and other waters that are critical to fish and wildlife populations and our outdoor traditions.

October 27 – The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction can protect America’s wildlife, public health and economy by ensuring a deficit deal protects critical conservation programs that have already been disproportionately slashed, according to a new report from the National Wildlife Federation. Conservation Works: How Congress Can Lower the Deficit and Protect Wildlife & Public Healthalso identifies more than $100 billion in savings that could be realized by cutting wasteful tax giveaways for oil, coal and ethanol.

“Investments in conservation programs are a great bargain, accounting for just one percent of federal spending but delivering huge benefits to all Americans, protecting wildlife, investing in clean energy jobs, and reducing pollution that harms our children,” said Jeremy Symons, senior vice president of the National Wildlife Federation.

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2011/11/weekly-news-roundup-november-4-2011/feed/035126BP Starts to Cut and Run, Leaving Death Behindhttp://blog.nwf.org/2011/02/bp-starts-to-cut-and-run-leaving-death-behind/
http://blog.nwf.org/2011/02/bp-starts-to-cut-and-run-leaving-death-behind/#respondTue, 22 Feb 2011 21:27:14 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/wildlifepromise/?p=14359It’s been a bad month in the Gulf of Mexico.

Last week BP decided to stop playing nice. Ken Feinberg, who the oil giant chose to run its compensation fund for spill victims, recently released a report estimating fishermen’s losses. The report predicted that Gulf wildlife would mostly be back to normal within a year or two, and it was widely criticized for ignoring the spill’s long-term effects (not to mention that it was based on some pretty shady research). So BP crunched the numbers again and concluded that there would be even fewer long-term problems than Mr. Feinberg thought, meaning they shouldn’t have to pay as much to fix things.

Then, to add insult to injury, BP backed out of its promise to help Louisiana restore wetlands, oyster beds, and fish hatcheries. In a report in yesterday’s New Orleans Times-Picayune, officials say that BP “has clearly changed their approach” to the restoration efforts.

Robert Barham, the state’s Wildlife & Fisheries Director, said, “All we’ve asked is for them to do what they said they would do in their commercials: be here for the long haul and make it right.” But now the oil giant has decided to fight it out in court, forcing Louisiana to scramble to find money for these vital projects.

Call me a cynic but is anyone surprised at this turn of events? BP said all the right things when the cameras were rolling and now we’re seeing their true colors.

Nobody would be happier than fishermen and wildlife lovers if BP turned out to be right—but the sad fact is that we have very little idea of what to expect in the Gulf, and the evidence we do have points to a difficult recovery ahead for oysters, dolphins, fish and other wildlife.

Consider this—Dr. Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia has spent the last 8 months examining the sea bed around the blown-out well. The samples and photographs her team collected painted a depressing picture: dead sea creatures, suffocated and poisoned by the oil that has accumulated on the ocean floor.

“I’ve been to the bottom. I’ve seen what it looks like with my own eyes. It’s not going to be fine by 2012,” Joye told The Associated Press. “You see what the bottom looks like, you have a different opinion.”

Dolphins playing off the coast of Gulf Shores, AL (photo: Christy Sheffield)

Adult dolphin deaths tripled during the spill, but this is the first calving season since then and our first look at the long-term impact on marine mammals. Scientists in Mississippi and Alabama have seen a spike in mortality since and, according to Moby Solangi, director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, it’s “more than just a coincidence.”

We’ve known all along that it would be a struggle to recover from this catastrophe and now more than ever we need to keep the spotlight on what’s happening in the Gulf. You can find out more about NWF’s efforts to protect wildlife habitat (including volunteer opportunities) at www.nwf.org/Oil-Spill.

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2011/02/bp-starts-to-cut-and-run-leaving-death-behind/feed/014359Gulf Oyster Workers “Facing Tremendous Amount of Uncertainty” (Video)http://blog.nwf.org/2010/07/gulf-oyster-workers-facing-tremendous-amount-of-uncertainty-video/
http://blog.nwf.org/2010/07/gulf-oyster-workers-facing-tremendous-amount-of-uncertainty-video/#respondWed, 28 Jul 2010 19:05:28 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/wildlifepromise/2010/07/gulf-oyster-workers-facing-tremendous-amount-of-uncertainty-video/Dr. Doug Inkley, senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation, just returned from another trip to the Gulf Coast. As NWF has been reporting, the BP oil disaster is hurting the people who rely on healthy oyster populations from the Gulf Coast to the Chesapeake Bay.

Doug spent a day with the owner of an oyster company in Louisiana, first heading out on the water to view areas where workers harvest oysters, then touring the facility where oysters are processed & packed to be shipped to fish markets & restaurants. Doug says that while business is already down, there’s a sense of dread about what other bad news could be on the horizon:

I had the opportunity to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last week on why the BP oil disaster is a crime scene. By some scientific estimates the spill is already more than eight times the size of the Exxon Valdez. Yet BP is treating our public estate with a cavalier attitude by refusing to do proper testing to determine the size and underwater spread of the spill. Our government must not let them get away with it. The Gulf of Mexico is a crime scene and the perpetrator cannot be left in charge of assessing the damage or controlling the data.

This crisis in the Gulf is not just about making offshore oil platforms safer. It’s about creating a safer energy platform for America.

I write this from Venice, Louisiana, a few days after the explosion at British Petroleum’s (BP) Deepwater Horizon oil rig set off a massive oil spill in the Gulf. Looking at the scale of the ecological disaster, I am frustrated, saddened and angry. BP has been long on promises and short on responses. Though two decades have passed since the Exxon Valdez spill occurred in Alaska, the oil industry and the various governmental enforcement agencies don’t seem to have learned much.

With a huge volume of oil flowing in the Gulf of Mexico unabated, we clearly have an epic catastrophe unfolding. The greatest coastal wetland system in America is at the height of spring wildlife nesting season. It now faces what may be the largest oil spill in the nation’s history. It is hard to imagine a more dire situation.

BP and the other oil giants have at various times testified before congressional committees that deep, offshore oil could be developed without harming the environment. But the reality I am experiencing here on the ground in Louisiana is revealing their rhetoric as little more than spin.

As of this writing, there are no reliable predictions when the flow of crude will be stopped or where the oil slick is headed next.

What will happen to this oil? Some of the lighter constituents will volatize into the air where, in combination with other pollutants, it will increase haze and ground-level ozone. When my colleagues and I flew through that haze over the oil slick, the air burned our eyes and throats. And scientists are warning that pollutants could linger for generations in the Gulf Coast’s soil and water.

Last summer, on the 20th anniversary of the Exxon spill, I traveled to Cordova, Alaska, a once-peaceful fishing village that became ground zero for the 1989 disaster when the supertanker ran aground on Bligh Reef, spilling more than 11 million gallons of crude into Prince William Sound. On that trip, I met with scientists who were part of a team that took 9,000 samples from holes dug along the impacted shoreline. They found oil in half of them, and they told me that crude oil and its breakdown products will continue to enter the food chain for years to come.

Of the 31 impacted species of wildlife studied there, only a third is fully recovered. And the once-plentiful pigeon guillemots and Pacific herring remain absent from the Sound. What does the future hold for Gulf Coast wildlife?

Coastal Louisiana produces 40 percent of the nation’s oysters. Oysters are filter feeders that are known to ingest and concentrate pollutants in their systems at levels 1,000 times higher than those found in ambient waters. Oil-impacted oyster beds may be off-limits for years to come, and there are long-term ramifications of low-level contamination on such species as bluefin tuna, bottlenose dolphins, sperm whales and manatees, as well as on humans who consume tainted fish and shellfish.

Unlike the formerly pristine Prince William Sound, coastal Louisiana has seen its share of environmental insults. Canals dredged by the oil industry have carved up the once-vast coastal wetland system. The canals accelerate saltwater intrusion, destroying the protective cypress forests and replacing brackish and freshwater wetlands with degraded salt marshes. Withdrawing oil and natural gas has further deflated the region, causing millions of acres of marshes to subside. Coupled with sea-level rise caused by global warming, Louisiana is losing the equivalent of about two football fields of land every hour.

For those of us who care about the viability of the ocean and of our world, this is our “Avatar moment.” We must challenge those who continue to pollute and destroy our world before it passes a point of no return.

We support President Obama’s freeze on new coastal drilling, because it is time to reassess America’s energy priorities. This is not just about making oil platforms safer—this is about moving to an entirely new energy platform.

Oil companies have deployed 700 lobbyists in Washington and spent tens of millions of dollars on advertising to persuade us that their drilling operations are completely safe. They have successfully stalled congressional action on clean energy alternatives and persuaded politicians to put oil company profits ahead of real energy reform. Now the bill is coming due. The hidden costs of our oil dependency are no longer invisible.

Helping Gulf Coast Wildlife: For information about the wildlife species threatened by the oil spill and updates on National Wildlife Federation activities relating to the region, please visit www.nwf.org/oilspill.